Working in the garden in the Fall has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. The days are crisp, the sun is sparkly, and there’s a satisfaction of getting the beds ready for Winter. I’m so blessed to have the opportunity to live in a beautiful and peaceful place. I count my blessings each day, knowing that so many humans and non-humans are suffering around the world. I hope my little bit, living somewhat lightly, working on Transition, urging my legislators to act reasonably on my behalf, and just plain caring, will make a difference.

I haven’t posted in over a month since I’ve accepted a very special, time-consuming job. Louis and are are now legal guardians of our 17-year-old granddaughter. She is living with us and attending her last year of high school nearby. It’s a huge adjustment for her since she was attending a very small (15 students) Quaker, boarding, farm school which closed due to financial constraints. They had no grades, no tests, just written evaluations and lots of writing. She’s now attending a large (1,600 students) public day school with grades, tests, and large classes. So we are trying to help her through these challenging times and it challenges us sometimes!

Now that a month of school has gone by, I’m beginning to find my new daily rhythm and I hope to be writing more. I am continuing my visits with Transition communities, next month in Illinois and California, and through Skype interviews with those in distant countries. I participated in two radio interviews with stations in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois today, sharing the Transition message and promoting my talk next Monday. So, soon you’ll be introduced to more folks involved with Transition.

I’ve been immersed in my own Transition Town work, organizing an Awakening the Dreamer symposium (see http://www.awakeningthedreamer.org) this month. It was a great success. It explores the inner transition that is talked about in the Transition Handbook, and then inspires people to take action. It was our effort for the Moving-Planet Day organized by 350.org. After the symposium, many people carpooled to the rally held at Vermont’s capital.

We are now organizing a Training for Transition in November. We have opened this up to all folks in the Northeast. The more people who get trained, the more committed our members become, the more we are able to share the work load. If you’re in the Northeast of the US, the dates are November 5 and 6 and you can find information on our website: http://www.transitioncharlottevt.org.

We’re planning to approach the town select board this Fall or early Winter and begin a collaboration with its various committees and councils. I’ve also been working with Steve Chase of Transition Keene, a fellow Quaker, on developing a Quakers in Transition website (he’s younger and done lots of the website work, of course) which you can look at at http://www.quakersintransition.wordpress.com.

Whew, busy days, but rich with hope. So, back to the garden, harvesting red peppers and cleaning up some of the beds. What fun!